Surely this is all about probability and risk factors? We all know the accident statistics! High on the list are CFIT and pilot error or system mismanagement.
I very much doubt that a pilot controlled crash hardly enters statistics for being a risk factor so would not have been considered until it happened.
Bird strikes and double flameouts probably ranked higher as a perceived risk factor.
Take the ditching into the Hudson? Thankfully the result was Ok and the pilot was hailed as a hero, but if not what would have been the public reaction had that plane come down into the City!
What could the authorities have done to prevent further double flameouts due to Bird strikes?
This is an exceptionally rare occurrence but it has happened so We have the two crew on the flight deck fix, probably more for public consumption, public confidence than anything like a real safety benefit.
Adding a low experience CC more access to the flight deck and at times when they are alone with one flight crew member is adding another low risk of giving access to a terrorist in the guise of CC with only one person to deal with and an ability to lock everyone else out.
The probability of that is "probably" equally low as an FO taking out an aircraft so you add an equal risk factor to remove another low risk factor?
That doesn't make sense unless you have already changed opinion to considering pilot suicide mass murder as a much higher risk factor than before which i Doubt it is. It will be public perception which will have changed not the risk factor.
My concern is a witch hunt with every pilot now being regarded as a potential mass murderer when really the best people to note his/her daily actions and moods should be the people he /she works with on a daily basis.
There could be real benefit in training colleagues to notice problems with another pilot and to be more forthcoming to that pilot and his superiors! But even there the most dangerous will be the ones who are good at hiding their emotions not the open book variety?
Last edited by Pace; 2nd Apr 2015 at 01:10.